Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills on Wednesday aimed at increasing wage requirements for Colorado’s home care workers and a $60 million stabilization fund for “safety net” providers.

The first bill, House Bill 1328, implements a number of recommendations made by the Direct Care Workers Stabilization Board, which was created through a piece of 2023 legislation and charged with finding ways to support better Colorado’s direct care workers, which include nursing aides, home health and personal care aides.

The bill establishes a $17 per hour minimum wage for direct care workers, starting in July, and encourages the state to increase that wage to $25 per hour by 2028.

Additionally, HB 1328 charges the Department of Labor with creating a free “Know Your Rights” training program for direct care workers, including information on wages, family leave, civil rights statutes related to the job, and procedures for filing complaints.

The bill also requires the Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing to create a website and communication platform for direct care workers.

“We must do better to support the essential workers who provide in-home care, which offers dignity and independence to so many Coloradans,” said sponsor Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge. “I sponsored the 2023 legislation that created this oversight board, and now it’s time to act on their recommendations. These workers deserve more than our gratitude – they deserve fair pay, stronger protections, and clear access to information on their rights and the compensation they’re entitled to for themselves.”

HB 1328 was sponsored by Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver, Rep. Danielson, and Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village. It received a 43-22 vote in the House and a 23-12 vote in the Senate.

Polis visited Clinica Family Health & Wellness in Lafayette to sign Senate Bill 290, which creates a provider stabilization fund within the state’s healthcare affordability and sustainability enterprise to administer financial assistance to safety net providers, such as Clinica, which provide services to uninsured, underinsured, and low-income patients.

The $60 million would come from the interest earned on the unclaimed property trust fund in the treasurer’s office. Because the funds would be invested in an enterprise, they would not count toward the TABOR limit.

Payments for each provider will be based on the proportion of low-income or uninsured patients they serve compared to the total number of low-income or uninsured individuals served by all safety net providers in the state.

“Our health care safety net has been strained over the last five years, and it is at a breaking point today,” said sponsor Sen. Kyle Mullica, D-Thornton. “Coloradans and Colorado communities are struggling. This is a necessary and important step to stabilize the safety net in the short term while we work on longer-term conversations about how we sustainably support our health care system in Colorado.”

The bill, which was sponsored by Mullica, Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, and Reps. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, and Kyle Brown, D-Louisville, passed 33-1 in the Senate and 54-11 in the House. Read more about SB 290 and safety net providers here.